Diana Ross - Diana Ross (1970/2016) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

After a half-year of recording material with various producers, Ross settled with the production team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the creative force behind Marvin Gaye's and Tammi Terrell's hit duets and Diana Ross & the Supremes' 'Some Things You Never Get Used To'. Ashford and Simpson helmed most of Ross's first album, Diana Ross, and continued to write and produce for her for the next decade.

In May 1970, Diana Ross was released on Motown. The first single, the gospel-influenced waltz, 'Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)', peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's second single, a fully rearranged cover of Gaye's and Terrell's 1967 hit, and another Ashford and Simpson composition, 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', was an international hit, and gave Ross her first #1 pop single and gold record award as a solo artist. 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

In 1971, Motown released Ross's second album Everything Is Everything, which produced Ross's first UK number-one solo single, 'I'm Still Waiting'. Several months later, Ross released Surrender, which included the top-20 pop hit, 'Remember Me'. That year, she hosted her first solo television special, Diana!, featuring guest appearances by The Jackson 5, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas. By then, Motown Records had relocated to Hollywood. Berry Gordy had decided it was time the company ventured again into new territory, focusing much of his attention on developing a motion picture corporation, with Diana Ross as its first star.

„Her self-titled debut LP (later retitled Ain't No Mountain High Enough after the single became a hit) was arguably her finest solo work at Motown and perhaps her best ever; it was certainly among her most stunning. Everyone who doubted whether Diana Ross could sustain a career outside the Supremes found out immediately that she would be a star. The single 'Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)' remains a staple in her shows, and is still her finest message track.“ (Her self-titled debut LP (later retitled Ain't No Mountain High Enough after the single became a hit) was arguably her finest solo work at Motown and perhaps her best ever; it was certainly among her most stunning. Everyone who doubted whether Diana Ross could sustain a career outside the Supremes found out immediately that she would be a star. The single 'Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)' remains a staple in her shows, and is still her finest message track.“ (Ron Wynn, AMG)

TRACKLIST

1. Diana Ross - Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)
2. Diana Ross - Now That There's You
3. Diana Ross - You're All I Need To Get By
4. Diana Ross - These Things Will Keep Me Loving You
5. Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
6. Diana Ross - Something On My Mind
7. Diana Ross - I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is
8. Diana Ross - Keep An Eye
9. Diana Ross - Where There Was Darkness
10. Diana Ross - Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow
11. Diana Ross - Dark Side Of The World